Gujarat: 60 kg charas worth Rs 30 crore found off Navsari coast during combing operations, say police

A preliminary probe suggests these packets drifted in the sea for some time before they got washed ashore, an official said

The Gujarat Police on Thursday recovered 50 packets containing 60 kg of charas (hashish) worth Rs 30 crore found lying on the seashore near Onjal village in Gujarat's Navsari district, said an official, reported the PTI.

This was reportedly the fourth such incident in a week where a large quantity of unclaimed narcotics was recovered from the coastline in the south Gujarat region.

After the seizure of charas packets from coastal areas of Surat and Valsad districts earlier this week, the local police had formed several teams to scan the coastline of Navsari, said Superintendent of Police (SP) Sushil Agarwal.

"During our combing operation, we recovered 50 packets of charas, which were lying unclaimed at five different spots on the beach near Onjal village. Each packet contained 1,200 grams of charas and the value of 1,000 grams of the contraband in the international market was Rs 50 lakh. In all, we have seized 60 kg of charas worth Rs 30 crore," informed the SP, according to the PTI.

"The contraband inside each packet was sealed using five layers of plastic and cloth sheets. Urdu and Afghan texts were found on these packets. A preliminary probe suggests these packets drifted in the sea for some time before they got washed ashore," said Agarwal, as per the PTI.

According to the police officer, the combing operation on the district's coastline was still on.

Earlier on August 12, ten unclaimed packets of charas were recovered at the coast near Udvada village in Valsad district.

A day later, police recovered three packets of charas worth Rs 1.5 crore found lying on the beach near Hazira village on the outskirts of Surat city. On the same day, police recovered 21 packets of charas worth Rs 10 crore from Danti beach in Valsad district.

Notably, unclaimed packets having narcotics substances have been found off the coast of Kutch district by the Border Security Force (BSF) and the local police at regular intervals over the last two years.

In the past, investigations by the BSF and other authorities had established that such packets, found at regular intervals off the Gujarat coast, got washed ashore after they were dumped in the sea by drug smugglers to avoid getting caught.

(with PTI inputs)

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